English Premiership Liverpool 1 Birmingham 1: Liverpool needed divine inspiration for much of last night though, in the end, they could not even rely on the Robbie Fowler effect to provide it, the striker denied a late winner by an offside flag.
The striker they have long hailed as God in these parts returned home and, given the frenzy of emotion surrounding his surprise arrival last week, it came as no surprise that his mere presence had helped steer the hosts ahead, if not necessarily in the way his manager had intended, though the second coming was still to end in anti-climax.
The hosts were running aground here against stubborn opponents reduced to 10 when, with just over an hour gone, Rafael Benítez asked his assistant to summon Fowler. The substitute's skip back to the dug-out was accompanied by bellowed cheers, with those behind the goal surely tempted to unfurl their banner hailing "Fowler God 11, welcome back to heaven". As if whipped up by the tumult of noise, Steven Gerrard - a modern-day Kop idol - promptly poked in a goal.
Fowler came on immediately and flitted around the game for 25 minutes, wandering off-side early then cleverly setting up chances for Fernando Morientes and Harry Kewell. Neither was taken. And when Chris Sutton headed across goal and Xabi Alonso put it into his own net, frustration was complete.
This occasion had increasingly appeared made for Fowler. Almost half an hour of shapeless, spasmodic football had spluttered by when Damien Johnson, competing for a loose ball, crunched his boot into the inside of Daniel Agger's left knee as the centre-half, diving to the turf, slid in to clear. The tackle was ugly if hardly spiteful, though Johnson made no contact with the ball and the Danish debutant's immediate reaction did suggest he had suffered a serious injury.
Perhaps swayed by the centre-half's desperate clutching of his limb, Uriah Rennie flashed red and the visitors, so comfortable up to then, had to re-assess their game plan.
Birmingham merely retreated, Sutton sinking into midfield. When David Dunn, their most creative spark in the opening exchanges, hobbled off six minutes later, the promise of their earlier approach had been undermined.
Guardian Service
LIVERPOOL: Reina, Finnan, Hyypia, Agger, Riise, Luis Garcia, Gerrard (Alonso 72), Hamann, Kewell, Crouch (Fowler 63), Morientes. Subs not used: Carson, Carragher, Warnock. Goal: Gerrard 62.
BIRMINGHAM: Maik Taylor, Melchiot, Latka, Upson, Gray, Pennant, Kilkenny (Tebily 64), Johnson, Dunn (Lazaridis 34), Heskey, Sutton, Lazaridis (Bruce 90). Subs Not Used: Vaesen, Forssell. Sent Off: Johnson (28). Goal: Alonso 88 og.
Referee: U Rennie (S Yorkshire).
